Watch CBS News

LA County Could Reach Orange Tier In April, Health Department Says

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Tuesday reported 318 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and 52 new deaths, bringing countywide totals to 1,210,905 cases and 22,519 deaths.

Aquarium of the Pacific re-opens inside
LONG BEACH, CA - MARCH 15, 2021:Piper Baldridge, left, 8, of Torrance, points to a bonnethhead shark while visiting the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach with family members, that re-opened indoors for the first time since the end of June, 2020. Today it was open to members only but starting tomorrow, March 16, 2021, the aquarium will be open to the public from 9am to 6pm, Monday thru Friday and 9am to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday. They are allowing a maximum of 25% of capacity. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Of the new deaths reported, 16 people were over the age of 80, 21 people were between the ages of 65 and 79, 13 people were between the ages of 50 and 64 and two people were between the ages of 30 and 49.

On Tuesday, the county's adjusted case rate dropped from 5.2 new cases per 100,000 people to 4.1 new cases per 100,000 people and the test positivity rate dropped from 2.5% to 2.0%.

"Los Angeles County continues to make significant progress slowing transmission," Dr. Barbara Ferrer, county public health director, said. "Should our case numbers continue to decline, our recovery journey could land us in the less restrictive orange tier in April."

The news comes days after L.A. County moved to the red tier, which allows the county to reopen several key sectors including, on-site learning for students in grades 7 through 12, museums, indoor dining at restaurants, gyms and movie theaters with required safety measures in place.

Public Health also said the number of outbreak investigations in Los Angeles continue to decline. As of Tuesday, there were 385 ongoing outbreak investigations, a significant reduction from the 1,130 outbreak investigations reported Feb. 16.

There were 865 people with COVID-19 hospitalized, 28% of whom were being treated in intensive care units.

With testing results available for more than 5,962,000 individuals, the county's overall positivity rate was holding at 19%, though the daily test positivity rate had fallen to 1.8%.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.